Patrick Cripps determined to win a premiership at Carlton after where the club was when he arrived
IF Carlton fans held any fears Patrick Cripps would return home to WA any time soon, you can let go of them as the Carlton star is determined to help the Blues win their 17th premiership.
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PATRICK Cripps “won” a wooden spoon in his first full AFL season as a Carlton player; his long-range plan is to book-end that by helping the Blues win their 17th premiership.
Don’t think for a moment the powerful midfielder is getting ahead of himself.
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Far from it — his feet are planted firmly on the ground, mindful there is still a lot of blood, sweat and tears before that becomes even a remote possibility.
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But the dream of being a part of a journey from the bottom to the top drives him daily — and it will also keep him at Carlton for much longer than the end of his current contract.
Cripps remains contractually bound to the Blues until the end of the 2019 season.
Mentally, he plans to be at Princes Park well into the 2020s, which is bad news for the West Australian clubs eager to coax him home.
“The easy option for me would have been to go home after my second year,” Cripps said of the strong interest West Coast had at the time.
“But the way I look at it, I was here when we won a wooden spoon and there would be nothing better than to build your way up as a club, and potentially win a premiership.
“We’ve had some pretty tough times in the last three-and-a-half years.
“The easy thing would have been to go home straight away and run from it all. Now we’ve done the hard yards, we know we have to keep working to chase success.
“But if we do get there, it will feel so much better knowing where we have come from.”
Cripps has never been one to take an easy option.
As a kid attending boarding school, he was toughened to the experience of living away from the family farm in Northampton, almost 500km north-west of Perth.
As a footballer, he does things the hard way, as one of the AFL’s leading contested ball and clearance winners.
The 22-year-old midfielder has never subscribed to that theory that he might be better served, for his own longevity, trying to win an easy kick once in a while.
“I feel if you can win your own ball, you always have that as the cornerstone of being consistent,” Cripps said.
“Everyone has their individual strengths. That’s mine. The strength of ‘Murph’ (Marc Murphy) is when you get the ball in his hands.”
Cripps showed his mental strength earlier this year when he played on with a fractured jaw, the result of an off-the-ball incident with Demon Jordan Lewis in Round 2.
While Lewis was suspended for three weeks; Cripps not only played the following week, but was one of Carlton’s inspirations in the win over Essendon.
With the Blues set to take on the Demons again today, he wasn’t keen to go over old ground with Lewis, saying he was more concerned about getting a win than getting even.
He explained: “Ed (Curnow) was tagging Lewis and kicked a goal, and I gave him a little bump. It sort of esculated from that, and that’s about I can say about that,” he said.
“I had a fracture, but it wasn’t all the way through ... just the top part. The doctor and the specialist said ‘you are right to play’.
“There was a risk that I could get a knock on it and it would (fully) fracture and I’d miss a month. But once you sort of put your hand up to play, you have to perform.”
He maintained his solid form while his jaw healed, with his standard fare for a few weeks being not much more than puree and soup.
It was Cripps’ second setback for the year, following a pre-season issue with a hot spot in his back.
Incredibly, he has never had a full pre-season in his time at Carlton.
“The back was a bit sore ... I had six weeks of no running and no weights. I couldn’t do anything,” he said.
“I was a long way behind, but you can’t worry about it. I feel like I am starting to get back to my best footy now. I always thought the longer the season went, the better my form was going to be.”
More than 50 players have departed Princes Park since he arrived after the 2013 draft.
But he is delighted with the steady growth of the young players, and the career-best form of Bryce Gibbs, Marc Murphy and Matthew Kreuzer.
And he is thriving on the structure and leadership coach Brendon Bolton has provided.
“The best thing about Bolts is his work ethic, he works bloody hard, and when you see your head coach work hard, it makes you want to work hard,” he said.
Asked when the Blues can push for a finals berth, Cripps isn’t sure.
“All I know is I feel like we have closed the gap a lot this year. The belief is that the younger guys will get fitter and stronger with another year under their belts. We are definitely evolving as a group, but we know it all comes back to hard work.”
Hard work ... that’s something Patrick Cripps has never shied away before.
GENERATION NEXT
DAVID CUNINGHAM (No.23, 2015 draft)
Age: 20 Height: 183cm Weight: 83kg Games: 8
Cripps says: “He is a really powerful mid to half-forward. He is clean, he has got a lot of growth. He still has a bit to learn about the game, but he has a lot of X-factor about him.”
SAM PETREVSKI-SETON (No.6, 2016 draft)
Age: 19 Height: 180cm Weight: 74kg Games: 12
Cripps says: “He’s a ripper. He can do it on the left and right foot. Once he gets another pre-season in him, he will probably start playing more midfield next year. You want to get the ball in his hands.”
ZAC FISHER (No.27, 2016 draft)
Age: 19 Height: 175cm Weight: 68kg Games: 9
Cripps says: “He might have the most X-factor of them all. He is small but kind of wiry and strong. He never misses a tackle and he is a step ahead of some people. He is so quick with his hands.”
JACK SILVAGNI (No.53, 2015 draft)
Age: 19 Height: 191cm Weight: 89kg Games: 21
Cripps says: “He is a smart, old-fashioned player. He is not overly quick, but he always finds a way to make an impact.”
CHARLIE CURNOW (No.12, 2015 draft)
Age: 20 Height: 194cm Weight: 91kg Games: 19
TOM WILLIAMSON (No.61, 2016 draft)
Age: 18 Height: 188cm Weight: 80kg Games: 10
Cripps says: “He might be the steal of the draft (pick 61) by the looks of it. He is a beautiful left-foot kick and he takes the game on. He will be one of the back six who will be here for 10 years.”
JARROD PICKETT (No.4, 2014 draft — taken by GWS)
Age: 20 Height: 178cm Weight: 77kg Games: 6
Cripps says: “He is quick and still finding his feet. He still has a lot of work to do, but he will get there.”
CALEB MARCHBANK (No.6, 2014 draft — taken by GWS)
Age: 20 Height: 193cm Weight: 90kg Games: 21
Cripps says: “He’ll be a 10-year player, like Jacob Weitering and Lachie Plowman. They are all good marks and read the ball well.”
HARRISON MACREADIE (No.47, 2016 draft)
Age: 19 Height: 196cm Weight: 89kg Games: 6
Cripps says: “He has surprised me a bit. He is a good intercept marker and a nice kick. Wait until he gets another season under him and he gets bigger.”
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